


Five Times Loki Failed to Assassinate Thor, and One Time He Almost Succeeded

by TeamHammerWeasel



Category: Thor (Movies)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Attempted Murder, Boys Kissing, Crack Treated Seriously, Denial, M/M, Pre-Thor (2011)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-23
Updated: 2019-01-23
Packaged: 2019-10-15 04:18:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17521862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeamHammerWeasel/pseuds/TeamHammerWeasel
Summary: Killing your brother isn't half as easy as stories would lead you to believe.





	Five Times Loki Failed to Assassinate Thor, and One Time He Almost Succeeded

_**I.**_  
  
When he uncoiled himself in Thor's arms and aimed the dagger beneath his ribs, he never expected the blade to sink half as deep as it did.  
  
Remnants of his triumphant laughter lingered on his lips as they both turned to look at the speed at which the deep crimson stain spread through the front of Thor's tunic. When Thor touched the wound, he did so with slow, dream-like movements, and when he brought his blood-drenched fingers before his eyes, it was with the air of studying a practical joke being played on someone else.  
  
The bubble of stillness which had formed around them was abruptly broken by a general commotion, and Loki found himself wrested away from Thor and then from the entire scene, going along with it more due to confusion than any actual desire to leave.  
  
His parents were initially too frightened for Thor's life to be cross at him, but their tune changed as soon as it became clear mere moments later that their eldest son was in no real danger. Unusually, Father calmed down first, making off-handed comments about boys being boys, while Mother spent several weeks afterwards staring at him as though she was trying to peer through his skull and see what malignant spirit had possessed him to do what he did.  
  
Thor remained bitter the longest, the betrayal no doubt cutting deeper for involving a snake, but even then, it wasn't long till he stopped bringing it up without prompting. With no scar to mark the spot, it was like nothing had happened after all.  
  
But Loki didn't forget. During idle moments, he would sometimes stare at his hands and wonder just how close they had come to taking his brother's life; how a single inch would have made all the difference.

 

* * *

  
_**II.**_  
  
The lake was so tiny it was really more of a glorified puddle, but it was deep all the same: even on this clear day, with rays of sunlight dancing on its surface, the sandy bottom with its pondweed and goggle-eyed fish remained obscured from view.  
  
"I bet you can't find the dagger in a single dive."  
  
Thor was already peeling off his clothes before Loki finished uttering the dare, leaping into the water with dolphin-like grace, glad to get another chance to show off what he had been practising that summer.  
  
Ignoring the spray of water which spattered on his robes, Loki knelt by the pond and placed his fingertips on the surface, moving them around in an imitation of whirilgig beetles.  
  
At once, the water cooled and began to crackle as a thin sheet of ice formed around his hand and soon covered the entire surface. Controlling magic was rarely easy, but he had better luck with ice than with most elements.  
  
It wasn't long till half the water had been transformed into thick, cloudy ice, killing the water lilies in their buds and hiding everything beneath the surface from view.  
  
He leaned back and waited. And waited.  
  
As the moment stretched on, he began to consider potential excuses. It was an accident, of course. He couldn't be expected to fully control his powers at such a young age. He had been distracted by a large frog which had hopped onto his knee and frightened him.  
  
He was awakened back to the present by the sound of shattering ice. A fist holding a sheathed dagger emerged from amidst the shards, followed the rest of Thor clambering onto the surface looking chilled but no worse for wear.  
  
He made a beeline for Loki, frowning. "Why did you do that?"  
  
Loki accepted the proffered dagger. "To make it more challenging."

Thor's eyes remained suspicious, but he asked no further questions. He shook his head to rid his hair of excess water, then picked up his clothes. "What's next?"

 

* * *

  
  
_**III.**_  
  
They were too old for most games by now, but apparently there was no age limit to horseplay with weapons.  
  
Loki didn't usually care to join Thor and his friends in the woods, where they'd while the afternoon away exchanging jokes and the occasional blow with one another, but since Thor had insisted, he was there that day. They had each chosen a weapon they rarely used: Hogun and Fandral had exchanged arms, and Sif practised aiming with her bow. Loki had conjured up a red light to dart ahead of them to serve as a target, and hadn't received a single word of thanks for it. And they wondered why he didn't like them.  
  
He followed along, thinking of all the more productive ways he could have used the time and annoyed by the poor balance of his blade, when he found himself running himself side-by-side with Thor. His brother was wielding a short sword, but instead of aiming a blow at him, he gave him a simple, almost naive smile of affection.  
  
Looking around, Loki saw Sif pull back her bowstring, aiming at the red light now about ten yards directly ahead of the two of them.  
  
He acted on instinct, or at least it felt like it as turned his blade aside and threw his body against Thor's. It always took a lot to shake Thor's balance, but this did the trick: he staggered, smile slowly transforming into surprise as he stumbled backwards, trying to regain his bearings.  
  
The arrow whirred an inch past his throat.  
  
The moment of time crystallised. Sif lowered the bow, eyes wide with shock as the near miss registered. Thor straightened his back, still startled.  
  
Fandral, who had stood the nearest to them, was the first to approach. "What do you think you're doing?"  
  
"It was an accident." Loki gestured at an upturned root near his feet.  
  
"First of many, no doubt," Fandral retorted, glowering.  
  
"That is enough. He said it was an accident," Thor said before Loki could respond, in a tone that brooked no argument. Only a brief flash in his eyes suggested he didn't entirely believe the words he spoke.  
  
No-one whispered so much as a word of the incident when they returned home, but Loki couldn't help but notice how coldly Thor's comrades treated him during the following weeks. Frankly, it made no difference, especially since Thor himself never once acted as though anything had happened.

 

* * *

  
  
_**IV.**_  
  
It was his most ambitious plan yet, and required some careful planning, working around the schedules of servants and charting complicated spells.  
  
Still, few things could stop him once he put his mind to something, and so on one bright summer morning he successfully swapped the places of the corridor to which Thor's bedroom door opened with a gaping chasm in Muspelheim, leading directly to a distant molten core.  
  
He ate breakfast as normal, anticipating the inevitable chaos with well-crafted calm, utterly unprepared for the moment Thor sauntered in, hair tousled and singed, but otherwise wholly intact. He soon learned that though groggy, Thor had managed to grab onto the ledge with one hand and haul himself back up, then returned to his room and exited through a window which still led to the usual courtyard.  
  
Unfortunately, his parents learned all this at the same time as he did, and quickly pieced together the rest of the incident. As a result, Father forbade him access to his spell books for an entire month, with a growl that he was lucky to evade a more severe punishment. Mother levied no additional penalties, but there was a distinct coolness to how she approached him for a long while afterwards.  
  
Thor himself was the first to forgive him, long before anyone else in the palace did. Only a few days later he confessed, with a half-hidden smile, that he'd never felt so alive as he had escaping from the abyss.

 

* * *

  
  
**_V._**  
  
It was a simple plan, almost insultingly so. But then, if his brother's first answer to everything was to smash it with a hammer, surely he too could rely on a basic plot every once in a while?  
  
Thor was happy to accept an invitation to do away with a long since forgotten cask of vintage ale that had lain abandoned behind two locked doors and three pairs of guards. He smiled and accepted the goblet Loki offered without so much as a hesitant glance or once asking why it was just the two of them.  
  
Loki knew perfectly well all the ways utilising poison could go wrong. A jealous wife trying to murder his husband to secure his inheritance for her child over her stepchildren and succumbing to her own poison? A bitter man seeking revenge on his village and being flayed alive after being caught trying to poison the well? He had heard the stories. He knew what not to do.  
  
Yes, he'd steer quite clear of the bitter cup, thank you very much. The tainted goblet was marked with a red dot and all the others with a green one, a small difference but immediately noticeable once you paid attention to it, and he made sure to double-check his goblet before consuming a single drop.  
  
Thor kept talking, happily chattering on about inconsequential things and requesting refills at regular intervals. Any moment now, his smile would contort into a frightful grimace as he took the first but inevitable step towards the funeral pyre.  
  
It was taking a very long time, however, even taking into account Thor's robust health and the slow-acting nature of the poison. Loki waited for him to shift his fingers to have a better look at the marking on the goblet.  
  
The green marking, as it happened.  
  
After swallowing his panic and confirming he hadn't somehow consumed the poison himself after all, he looked around and spotted the red goblet where he had displaced it on the far side of the table.  
  
He stared at for a moment, then ignored it and continued listening to Thor, annoyed, but not entirely displeased the radiant smile wouldn't die out just yet.  
  
He had time, after all. All the time in the world.

 

* * *

  
  
_**VI.**_  
  
The night was still as he crept in through the open window, his footsteps silenced by a spell. Thor slept soundly, his face towards the wall, dead to the world.  
  
Loki approached slowly. He had taken a dagger with him, the very same he had used all those years ago and retired from his normal arsenal, but it was a mere back-up. Strangulation would be neater and quicker and above all, silent.  
  
He sat on the bedside, and froze as two sets of footsteps passed by in the corridor. The guards couldn't hear him, he knew, but still their presence felt like an imposition. He waited till even their echoes had vanished entirely.  
  
Moving with the same gentle calm as he had since entering the room, he turned Thor on his back. He looked much the same asleep as he did during his calmer moments awake, gentle and peaceful. What he was dreaming of, Loki could only guess.  
  
He placed his hands on his throat, ignoring his plans to suffocate him by magic, and let them rest there, feeling the slow pulse throbbing underneath his palms.  
  
He didn't realise just how long the moment had stretched on till the first rays of morning light filtered into the room.  
  
Thor's eyes flickered open.  
  
Loki removed his hands from his neck, moving them down to his shoulderblades, but there was no time to flee before Thor tried to push himself up, groggy and puzzled. "Lo—"  
  
He had to silence him at once, and it was the easiest way. Fast and effortless and perfectly logical. Anyone would have done the same in his place.  
  
At least, that was what he thought after he had already leaned forward and planted his lips on Thor's.  
  
For a few seconds, his explanation held water. Then, the shock on his face ebbing, Thor closed his eyes and deepened what was quickly and inexorably becoming a genuine kiss, one that made Loki forget exactly why he had sneaked into the room in the first place.  
  
By the time they parted, he could have sworn the sun had all but risen.  
  
They stared at each other, Thor blinking, suddenly bashful. Neither of them felt the need to speak.  
  
Finally, Loki got up and exited same the way he had come in. He could have used the door, he supposed, but what kind of an assassin did that? Only a complete failure of one.


End file.
